Back to school: 'Energy for You and Me' booklet illuminates elegant magic of solar electric panels

HILLSBORO, Ore., Sept. 6, 2011 – SolarWorld, the largest U.S. manufacturer of solar panels for more than 35 years, is offering an explanatory booklet for free download to the nation's schools and schoolteachers to ease the increasingly vital task of plainly, vividly explaining solar energy and its promise.

Titled "Energy for You and Me," the booklet uses color photography, illustrations and graphics to unlock the science and technology of how crystalline silicon solar panels are produced and deployed and how they generate electricity for decades – with no need for fuels, moving parts, emissions, maintenance or combustion.

Did you know that:

Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize not for developing the theory of relativity but for explaining the photo-electric effect – the physics underlying solar-electric generation?

Solar-electric generation may be equated to tapping energy from rock, as it combines sunlight with treated silicon, the most common solid element on Earth's crust?

For students in grades eight through 12, "Energy for You and Me" details such processes and facts in a format that also provides sidebars on not only the solar industry's history and technology but also its vocabulary and science. Few, if any, comparable, up-to-date publications serve these purposes.

SolarWorld Americas president Kevin Kilkelly said while the company's business is building and selling high-performance solar panels, SolarWorld also needs to assist the next generation to grasp the promise of solar energy. "They know fossil fuels are taking a toll on their planet," he said. "As a kind of Solar 101, our new publication will help these future leaders understand how solar energy not only will, but is currently building a clean, green future."

SolarWorld Real Value

SolarWorld manufactures and sells solar power solutions and in doing so contributes to a cleaner energy supply worldwide. As the largest solar producer in the United States and Europe, SolarWorld employs about 3,200 people and carries out production in Hillsboro, Ore., and Freiberg and Arnstadt, Germany. From the raw material silicon to solar wafers, cells and panels, SolarWorld manages all stages of production ‒ including its own research and development. The company maintains high social standards at all locations across the globe and is committed to resource- and energy-efficient production. Headquartered in Bonn, Germany, SolarWorld was founded in 1998 and has been publicly traded on the stock market since 1999. For more information, visit www.solarworld-usa.com.